Review: [untitled]Author(s): Bernard HamiltonReviewed work(s):

The Inquisition by Michael Baigent;Richard LeighSource: The English Historical Review, Vol. 116, No. 466 (Apr., 2001), pp. 474-475Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/580893Accessed: 08/09/2009 06:53

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474 SHORTER NOTICES April

commissioners charged with the implementation of the Edict of Nantes, so describes the maitre des requetes, Jean-Jaques de Mesmes, commissioner in Provence, merely as an 'agent'. A similar loose description is attached to one 'Henri' (sc. Pierre) de Caumels, variously described as an agent or an officer, when he was in fact the second avocat du roi of the parlement of Toulouse; he and his fellow avocat du roi Belloy actually wrote the report on problems with the implementation of the Edict of Nantes at Fiac which Finley-Croswhite ascribes to the commissioners for Languedoc. A closer reading of Caumels'

correspondence with the king should have led her to classify Toulouse along with Rennes and Bordeaux as towns where the local parlement was a dominant

presence in municipal affairs. The author has been ill-served by her publishers, who have allowed 'somewhat unique', 'sight' for 'site', 'broadsides' when 'broadsheets' are clearly intended, the curious semi-translation of 'cahier des

grievances' rather than doleances, 'resistors', 'advisors' and repeated reference to Henri IV's 'ascension' in 1589 - if he ever achieved such an apotheosis then this was surely not before I6Io.

University of Essex JOAN DAVIES

The Inquisition, by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh (London: Penguin Books/Viking, 1999; pp. 318. I?6.99).

The Inquisition, by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, presents a very outdated and misleading account of this institution. Two-thirds of the book is taken up by a history of the Inquisition from its tentative formation by Pope Gregory IX in 1233 to combat the Cathar heresy, to its gradual abandonment by Catholic states in the early nineteenth century. This account contains many inaccuracies and ignores virtually all the extensive modern research in this field; the books on which it is based were for the most part written in the nineteenth

century, as the footnotes and, indeed, the bibliography, make clear. One

consequence of this is that Baigent and Leigh write of the Inquisition as though it was an autonomous power which could impose its will on recalcitrant rulers and their subjects by brute force. This was the view of nineteenth-century scholars who based their accounts on official documents, papal bulls and

inquisitors' manuals. Research on the abundant records of Inquisition proceed- ings by scholars like William Monter, Gustav Henningsen and Henry Kamen

(who, though he is cited by Baigent and Leigh in their bibliography, does not seem to have been much used by them) have shown that this ecclesiastical tribunal was only successful when it had the support of the secular authorities and that it was much less influential and powerful than had formerly been

supposed. Although few people would wish to defend the Inquisition, no

purpose is served by criticizing it for the abuse of powers which it did not

possess. Baigent and Leigh devote the last third of their book to demonstrating that the Inquisition is still in existence and active. Since I965 the Holy Office, the department of the Curia which oversaw the Inquisition's work, has been called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is now presided over by Cardinal Ratzinger, and the authors claim that with the full support of Pope John Paul II it is seeking to prevent the Catholic Church from making changes which would enable it adequately to meet any of the major challenges it now

EHR Apr. oi

474 SHORTER NOTICES April

commissioners charged with the implementation of the Edict of Nantes, so describes the maitre des requetes, Jean-Jaques de Mesmes, commissioner in Provence, merely as an 'agent'. A similar loose description is attached to one 'Henri' (sc. Pierre) de Caumels, variously described as an agent or an officer, when he was in fact the second avocat du roi of the parlement of Toulouse; he and his fellow avocat du roi Belloy actually wrote the report on problems with the implementation of the Edict of Nantes at Fiac which Finley-Croswhite ascribes to the commissioners for Languedoc. A closer reading of Caumels'

correspondence with the king should have led her to classify Toulouse along with Rennes and Bordeaux as towns where the local parlement was a dominant

presence in municipal affairs. The author has been ill-served by her publishers, who have allowed 'somewhat unique', 'sight' for 'site', 'broadsides' when 'broadsheets' are clearly intended, the curious semi-translation of 'cahier des

grievances' rather than doleances, 'resistors', 'advisors' and repeated reference to Henri IV's 'ascension' in 1589 - if he ever achieved such an apotheosis then this was surely not before I6Io.

University of Essex JOAN DAVIES

The Inquisition, by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh (London: Penguin Books/Viking, 1999; pp. 318. I?6.99).

The Inquisition, by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, presents a very outdated and misleading account of this institution. Two-thirds of the book is taken up by a history of the Inquisition from its tentative formation by Pope Gregory IX in 1233 to combat the Cathar heresy, to its gradual abandonment by Catholic states in the early nineteenth century. This account contains many inaccuracies and ignores virtually all the extensive modern research in this field; the books on which it is based were for the most part written in the nineteenth

century, as the footnotes and, indeed, the bibliography, make clear. One

consequence of this is that Baigent and Leigh write of the Inquisition as though it was an autonomous power which could impose its will on recalcitrant rulers and their subjects by brute force. This was the view of nineteenth-century scholars who based their accounts on official documents, papal bulls and

inquisitors' manuals. Research on the abundant records of Inquisition proceed- ings by scholars like William Monter, Gustav Henningsen and Henry Kamen

(who, though he is cited by Baigent and Leigh in their bibliography, does not seem to have been much used by them) have shown that this ecclesiastical tribunal was only successful when it had the support of the secular authorities and that it was much less influential and powerful than had formerly been

supposed. Although few people would wish to defend the Inquisition, no

purpose is served by criticizing it for the abuse of powers which it did not

possess. Baigent and Leigh devote the last third of their book to demonstrating that the Inquisition is still in existence and active. Since I965 the Holy Office, the department of the Curia which oversaw the Inquisition's work, has been called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It is now presided over by Cardinal Ratzinger, and the authors claim that with the full support of Pope John Paul II it is seeking to prevent the Catholic Church from making changes which would enable it adequately to meet any of the major challenges it now

EHR Apr. oi

2001 SHORTER NOTICES 475

faces. The authors feel very strongly about what they perceive as the failings of the present-day Church, and although they disclaim any such intention in their Introduction, this part of their work has strong affinities with anti-Catholic polemics written in the first half of last century. Their arguments seem rather simplistic, perhaps because they attribute powers to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which are as exaggerated as those they attribute to the Inquisition. They might do well to ponder the story told of Pius XII, who is reputed to have said to a cardinal who urged him to be more authoritarian: 'Eminence, I do not have the powers of an Irish bishop'. Even if apocryphal, this anecdote reflects a truth. In Pius XII's reign the Irish bishops had the full backing of the secular authorities, but that is something which the papacy and the Roman Curia has never had.

University of Nottingham BERNARD HAMILTON

Women in the Inquisition: Spain and the New World, by Mary E. Giles (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins U.P, 1999; pp. 402. ?40.50; pb. ?16.o5).

Feminist historiography of the predicament of women in the early modern religious climate often presents woman as either the misunderstood and maltreated victim of a male repressive system, or as a resourceful subverter and survivor of that system. Female mystics, as analysed in the theology of Sarah Coakley (for example), have been ascribed a distinctively feminine type of religious expression, intuitive, emotional, mystical in contrast to the 'male' mode of rationalist, dogmatic, hegemonic language. This theoretical framework underpins Women in the Inquisition: Spain and the New World, edited by Mary E. Giles. However, these essays do not force a feminist line in any crude or unsophisticated way. The collection ranges over converso women, mystics, and mixed-race women in the New World. It displays subtlety, honest narrative, and (pace postmodernists) traditional empirical appraisal of its sources. Only one essay (Ch. 9) really theorizes ahead of the evidence. Giles's introduction addresses the handling of women by the Inquisition, and their humiliation by agents of male authority, especially through the institutionalized 'rape' of torture: though in fact women were always a small minority (20-30% or less) among those tried by the Inquisition (p. 193), and torture was used in a tiny proportion of cases (p. 113). The case-studies add many nuances to a complex story. First, women often deliberately accused other women of heresy, a daughter her mother (Ch. I) a servant her mistress (Ch. 3) or one beata another (Ch. 5), possibly out of sexual jealousy. Secondly, women in sixteenth-century Spain held a privileged spiritual position, in that even the unenclosed and unregulated female religious, the beata, had an accepted spiritual role. The very spiritual prestige and the intense devotion which these women aroused (including among male clergy) prompted the Inquisition to intervene where heterodoxy or scandal was suspected (Chs. 4, 5, 6). Thirdly, some of these women not only survived the Inquisition, but in some cases turned its attentions to their own advantage and claimed that their acquittal gave them greater prestige: Maria de Cazalla survived, Ana Domenge bragged of her acquittal, Maria de Jesus de Agreda was never even tried formally, though she was investigated. These prestigious visionaries were in the dangerous margins of

EHR Apr. or

2001 SHORTER NOTICES 475

faces. The authors feel very strongly about what they perceive as the failings of the present-day Church, and although they disclaim any such intention in their Introduction, this part of their work has strong affinities with anti-Catholic polemics written in the first half of last century. Their arguments seem rather simplistic, perhaps because they attribute powers to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which are as exaggerated as those they attribute to the Inquisition. They might do well to ponder the story told of Pius XII, who is reputed to have said to a cardinal who urged him to be more authoritarian: 'Eminence, I do not have the powers of an Irish bishop'. Even if apocryphal, this anecdote reflects a truth. In Pius XII's reign the Irish bishops had the full backing of the secular authorities, but that is something which the papacy and the Roman Curia has never had.

University of Nottingham BERNARD HAMILTON

Women in the Inquisition: Spain and the New World, by Mary E. Giles (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins U.P, 1999; pp. 402. ?40.50; pb. ?16.o5).

Feminist historiography of the predicament of women in the early modern religious climate often presents woman as either the misunderstood and maltreated victim of a male repressive system, or as a resourceful subverter and survivor of that system. Female mystics, as analysed in the theology of Sarah Coakley (for example), have been ascribed a distinctively feminine type of religious expression, intuitive, emotional, mystical in contrast to the 'male' mode of rationalist, dogmatic, hegemonic language. This theoretical framework underpins Women in the Inquisition: Spain and the New World, edited by Mary E. Giles. However, these essays do not force a feminist line in any crude or unsophisticated way. The collection ranges over converso women, mystics, and mixed-race women in the New World. It displays subtlety, honest narrative, and (pace postmodernists) traditional empirical appraisal of its sources. Only one essay (Ch. 9) really theorizes ahead of the evidence. Giles's introduction addresses the handling of women by the Inquisition, and their humiliation by agents of male authority, especially through the institutionalized 'rape' of torture: though in fact women were always a small minority (20-30% or less) among those tried by the Inquisition (p. 193), and torture was used in a tiny proportion of cases (p. 113). The case-studies add many nuances to a complex story. First, women often deliberately accused other women of heresy, a daughter her mother (Ch. I) a servant her mistress (Ch. 3) or one beata another (Ch. 5), possibly out of sexual jealousy. Secondly, women in sixteenth-century Spain held a privileged spiritual position, in that even the unenclosed and unregulated female religious, the beata, had an accepted spiritual role. The very spiritual prestige and the intense devotion which these women aroused (including among male clergy) prompted the Inquisition to intervene where heterodoxy or scandal was suspected (Chs. 4, 5, 6). Thirdly, some of these women not only survived the Inquisition, but in some cases turned its attentions to their own advantage and claimed that their acquittal gave them greater prestige: Maria de Cazalla survived, Ana Domenge bragged of her acquittal, Maria de Jesus de Agreda was never even tried formally, though she was investigated. These prestigious visionaries were in the dangerous margins of

EHR Apr. or